Hailing from Texas, Nexul are a part of the Ordo Satanae Imperium collective - which includes fellow Hells Headbangers cults Nyogthaeblisz and Hellvetron, with whom Nexul share members - and one of the most exciting developments in American black/death metal in recent years. Together, this trio of bands explore death's deepest mysteries and provide sonic/lyrical keys to the Beyond. Of them, Nexul are the newest, making their recorded debut with the Nexulzifer demo in 2013, which Hells Headbangers released on both 7" vinyl and cassette tape. Across three songs and a dozen minutes, Nexulzifer portrayed a potent vision of Luciferian death metal magick - heaving, hideous, and molten to the touch - and formed the foundation on which Nexul built their next illuminating vision.
And now, that illumination arrives with Paradigm of Chaos. Compared to the more basic, bestial-intensive Nexulzifer, the Nexul of Paradigm of Chaos is one that walks the threshold between all-consuming chaos and sheer insanity, between ravaging death magick and the ethereal vibrations both above and especially below: both heeding the boundless powers which drive them while disregarding/disrespecting any notions of "tradition." As the band explains, "This Paradigm of Chaos was conceived over three years, during which time we plunged into entropy and strife, either through our own making or tribulation from external forces. What has emerged is a corporeal/ethereal mirror, a destructive pattern woven of audial lunacy and spiritual fervour towards the Great Dragon that is called LEVIATHAN."
In a relatively short amount of time, Nexul have become masters of wielding sound as a veritable weapon; here, onParadigm of Chaos, it is literally overwhelming and tangibly MASSIVE to behold. But within that ghastly, gibbering maw of oblivion lays nuance and dynamics: this is more than just senseless noise, and certainly more than rote "brutality" for its own sake. It is verily the death rattle of the soul, and those reverberations ring infinitely - and forebodingly - across a canvas which is even more heaving, even more hideous, and untouchably molten. There are layers upon layers upon layers to this Paradigm of Chaos, and the corridors down which one can wander are seemingly infinite. Rarely has black/death metal been this unremittingly violent whilst keenly subtle. Concluding, the band firmly states, "The Depths of the Abyss are a fountain of Knowledge from which we have drunk our fill; we offer this elevenfold Curse in return, though we will be parched once more. Until then, the chants from the Tower of Chaos shall ring throughout unending Night in Wrathful Chaos, hearkening the Dark God, mocking the Sephiroth drowning in the Bottomless Seas..."
